Many people do not have a great deal of time these days for gardening. In addition, many people do not want to wait for the seeds to germinate and grow and prefer to purchase seedlings from a garden center or other retail establishment. Retail plants are frequently sold in plastic trays where there are a plurality of recesses where planting mix or other soil mixture is placed and the seedlings are grown. Other planters include peat pots i.e. containers made from pressed peat moss. These pots may be made from other materials as well.
When the gardener purchases these seedlings, they typically either pull out the seedling from the plastic tray and plant it in a suitable location in the garden. Alternatively, where the seedling is in a plantable container, the entire container is put into the ground.
There are still a number of gardeners and homeowners who prefer to grow their own seedlings over buying commercially produced plants. This poses many advantages to the gardener; he no longer has to wait for commercial plants to become available, there is less danger of getting diseased plants, home-produced transplants grow better after being set in the garden, because they are frequently better cared for.
Usually transplanting a seedling involves removing the plant from a small planter once its first true leaves have developed. The gardener must then gently pull the small plant form its original planter being careful not to break the stem or damage the roots as this occurrence will prevent the plant from reoccurring. Another method for transplanting seedlings into the ground is using a disintegrateable pot to plant the seedling and then planting the seedling with the pot in the ground. The pot will dissolve into the ground. Some pots will allow the roots to grow through the pot as it decomposes. The decomposition process for the commercially available pots is usually slow and sometimes an entire growing season or more will pass, after the pot has been planted with the pot made of peat moss or other materials still intact. In the fall or early spring when the garden is being cleaned up for the next season, many of the annuals that were planted in pots still have their pots present. These non decomposed pots are a burden to remove from the soil.
Another problem that is encountered with some of the prior planters is that they disintegrate too quickly and are difficult to handle when the gardener tries to plant the seedlings. Moisture from watering the plants can dissolve some planters too quickly and cause the pot to tear or fall apart when it is lifted for planting. There is a need for a container which will disintegrate into the ground quickly, allowing the plant to grow and the roots to spread without interfering in the plants growth. Although other biodegradable pots may be available they do not decompose as quickly. This is an issue primarily with annuals as the dead plants must be removed each year and the plants must be replaced
Rice straw is the stalk of a dead rice plant. Rice straw is unique in that it is more sturdy then other types of straw. There are many viable uses for rice straw including, straw bale building, fiberboard construction panels, door cores, community perimeter walls and highway sound walls, Newsprint, specialty paper, consumer product packaging. Rice straw is also used for controlling erosion and sediment. In packed form, rice straw has low thermal conductivity, i.e. it is a good insulator. Rice straw has a high ash content (up to 22%) and low protein content. As a result, rice straw does not decompose as readily as other straw from other grain crops such as wheat or barley.
Coconut fiber, known as coir is another natural fiber. Coir is a versatile natural fiber extracted from mesocarp tissue, or husk of the coconut fruit generally fiber is of golden color when cleaned after removing from coconut husk. Brown coir is used in brushes, doormats, mattresses and sacking. A small amount is also made into twine. Pads of curled brown coir fiber, made by needle-felting are shaped and cut to fill mattresses and for use in erosion control on river banks and hillsides. The material is also used for insulation and packaging. Coir pots for plants are available in the market but they do not decompose quickly. The major use of white coir is in rope manufacture. Mats of woven coir fiber are made from the finer grades of bristle and white fiber using hand or mechanical looms. Coir is recommended as substitute for milled peat moss because it is free of bacteria and fungal spores.